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Who will represent Massachusetts on Mars? It could be any of these 12 people

Mars.jpg

In this image released by NASA on Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, a chapter of the layered geological history of Mars is laid bare in this color image from NASA's Curiosity rover showing the base of Mount Sharp, the rover's eventual science destination. Scientists enhanced the color in one version to show the Martian scene under the lighting conditions we have on Earth, which helps in analyzing the terrain. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

"I think of this as donating my life to science." - Yari Rodriguez, Mars colony candidate

Folks in western Massachusetts often complain that we're not really represented in Boston. Alas, it doesn't look like that will change even when mankind makes it to Mars.

The non-profit Mars One hopes to send humans to the red planet by 2023 to start the first extraterrestrial colony, and out of the 705 candidates for a spot, 12 are from Massachusetts, all from the greater Boston area.

While not all of them are rocket scientists, some of them are pretty close. And one of them actually is.

Andrew Rader, 35, just moved to Los Angeles from Lexington, Mass. He was named "Canada's Greatest Know-It-All" on the Discovery Channel reality show of the same name. He has a PhD in aerospace engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, worked on several Canadian space missions and wrote a book called "Leaving Earth: Why One-Way to Mars Makes Sense."

(This is a one-way trip. Everyone who wants to go has to be willing to live and die on Mars.)

Rader works for SpaceX as a "mission integrator" planning launches. He said he couldn't go into any more detail, but he had a lot of insight into what a Mars colony would need to thrive.

"Mars has the potential to be turned into a second Earth in the next thousand years or so," he said. "It's the most important thing we can do as a species at the beginning of the 21st century."

Learning to move one's body with less gravity and with a vastly different atmosphere will be a major focus, he said, along with using food and water efficiently. Even though it will be easy to communicate with earthlings, getting a shipment of supplies would take a really long time.

"The most important part of the mission is going to be human factors," he said. Colonists will need to adapt to life away from everyone they love, learn to live in harmony with a small group of people for decades, and perform important work under tremendous physical and emotional stress.

When asked if he was uneasy about the idea of leaving Earth for good, Rader was dismissive.

"Why not? Life is a one-way journey. ... I could die in a car accident tomorrow and not come back," he said. Living out his days on Mars, "I would feel that my life is well-spent."

Some of the more day-to-day practical concerns will have to be ironed out over the course of time, like deciding on a form of government. Rader said he is "kind of" Libertarian about property rights on Mars, but it's too early to say which system would work best.

In order to be considered for the journey, every candidate had to submit a letter from their doctor saying they're healthy enough to live on another planet for the rest of their lives, and make a profile on the Mars One website to allow a vote on who to send.

Not everyone was very forthcoming in their biographies, and Mars One does not provide contact information for them, but each candidate posted an introductory video on the website. (Mars One says they all still live in Massachusetts, but that couldn't be verified.) Here's what the colonial hopefuls had to say:

Bailey is a 20-year-old musician from Arizona who now lives in Boston. She filmed her video in front of the final resting place of Percival Lowell, who studied Mars in the 1800s, and she said she's "willing to dedicate my life to this endeavor."

Marina Santiago, 26, studies chemistry and microbiology at Harvard University. She said she wants to go to Mars because she loves science and big challenges.

Brandi Zella, 23, from East Bridgewater says she has a Bachelor's Degree in Atmospheric Science and pursued a Master's in Environmental Engineering. "This program is essentially a dream come true for me," she said.

Joseph Sweeney, 25, is a science enthusiast from Marlborough who wants to "represent humanity in the cosmic search for knowledge." He's working on a degree in Applied Intelligence.

Kathryn is 31. She comes from Azerbaijan and now lives in Randolph. She serves in the U.S. Navy and says she has been in the medical and technical fields "for some years."

Three of the contenders live in Somerville: a biologist and cancer researcher named Christopher who wants one day to cook "the first perfect omelet on Mars"; Sara, a biologist and artist; and Yari Rodriguez, a pilot who holds a degree in engineering science from Smith College. Rodriguez said, "I think of this as donating my life to science."

Peter Degen-Portnoy of Stoneham is a 50-year-old father of five and "fundamentally a problem solver by nature." He says Mars colonization is mankind's destiny, and his interests include astronomy, flight dynamics, sailing and ballet.

Rebecca Hockey, 27, of Tyngsboro holds a Master's degree in Business Administration. She acknowledges that she doesn't have the same scientific qualifications as some of the other candidates, but "I have a work ethic like no one you've ever met before. I also have leadership experience and I have a willingness to be a follower when necessary."

Sasha, 25, of Weymouth said that while other people grew up dreaming of becoming "doctors or mothers, I just wanted to be a bum seeing the countryside." She said she has a dry sense of humor, David Hyde Pierce is her favorite physical comedian, and with a little makeup on, she can "look really good" for Mars One promotional photos.

The 705 remaining candidates will be whittled down to "several" international teams of two men and two women, and training for the mission will be their full-time job, according to Mars One. And they have to speak English.

The organization expects the first manned flight to cost $6 billion and every subsequent mission to cost $4 billion. For reference, the Hubble Space Telescope cost $2.5 billion just to construct, and that's in pre-1990 dollars. It wasn't sent 224.3 million miles with four human beings onboard.

Rader said the estimate of the Mars One cost is "pretty inaccurate," but Hubble "probably cost too much" and could have been done for much less by private businesses.

"It's negligent that we haven't done this yet. We were supposed to do this 30 years ago," said Rader. "What you need is a unifying voice, like Kennedy saying we will go to the moon."